


Out of the Shadows

by TheSecondBatgirl



Category: Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-13
Updated: 2011-12-13
Packaged: 2017-10-27 07:23:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/293167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSecondBatgirl/pseuds/TheSecondBatgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some part of Jeanie actually expected that things would go back to normal when she returned to school.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Out of the Shadows

**Author's Note:**

  * For [51stCenturyFox](https://archiveofourown.org/users/51stCenturyFox/gifts).



_"Maybe I'm overreacting. Maybe Ferris isn't such a bad guy."_

Some part of Jeanie actually expected that things would go back to normal when she returned to school. She'd spent so long being annoyed by Ferris' very existence, only to end up helping him get out of trouble. She was pretty sure that it had been a sign of temporary insanity. After all, she'd had a pretty traumatic day, what with Rooney breaking into the house and all.

But some other part of her had really enjoyed it - the look on Ferris' face when he realized that his fate was in her hands, and the smile that he'd given her when she had saved his ass. They hadn't really talked about it at all, that wasn't really what they _did_ , but Jeanie still felt closer to him then she had since they were kids.

When they did get back to school, everyone was so glad to see Ferris that they forgot the little things like comments about needed kidney transplants, and the whole school moved on to supporting Ferris’ next grand scheme, which apparently involved taking up a collection to buy a Ferrari. Except now, Jeanie was part of the scheme. Now, she understood more about what Ferris was.

Her brother had always been a force of nature, but now he was a force of nature that was on her side. Instead of fighting it, it was time for her to go along for the ride. Ferris was right - life was short. Why would she want to sit around and watch as things happened to other people, when she could be right there with them?

*

 _"Bueller?... Bueller?... Bueller? "_

"I can't believe he's gone," Sloane said as she and Jeanie walked into the school for the first day of their senior year. "It just doesn't feel right, us being here without him."

"It's not like he's gone forever," Jeanie said. "And we've only got one year left ourselves." She grinned at Sloanne, who returned the smile.

"Well, you're the only Bueller in the school now. So... what are we going to do about that?"

Jeanie hesitated. This was her first real chance to be out of Ferris's shadow. She could do what she wanted, be her own person.

Before the incident, she probably would have done all she could to distance herself from Ferris and his reputation, to make sure that everyone knew that she was nothing like him. And it was true, she wasn't really anything like him; she was her own person and she had more than accepted that. But that didn't mean that she couldn't have some fun while she was here.

"I don't know yet," she said finally, as she took Sloane's arm. "But I think you and I are going to have a lot of fun figuring it out."

*

 _"You oughta spend a little more time worryin' 'bout yourself, and a little less time worryin' 'bout what your brother does..."_

Jeanie's first day at college was the first day of her life without Ferris. Even her senior year still had the specter of Ferris all over it. Even last year - her _senior year_ \- had still been all about Ferris. Everyone knew who she was - and once she and Ferris had become friends, even more people had learned that she was Ferris' sister. They had expected things of her - not that they thought that she was exactly like her brother, but being a Bueller meant things to people in that town. From the teachers who expected her to be as big a troublemaker as her brother (and to be fair, she was the only one of them who had been suspended), to the teachers who thought that she should be able to effortlessly get As like Ferris had (and it wasn't that she wasn't smart, she just wasn't Ferris), to the students who thought she was magic (and neither of them were), she had spent the last year being the replacement Ferris.

In some ways, that was better than being the outcast had been. She’d spent all her time defining herself as not being Ferris before she saved him. By trying to prove that she was better than he was, that he wasn't the perfect son that her parents believed they had, she'd done everything that she could to make them notice her. And they had, but only to continue to compare her to Ferris.

College was a fresh start. College was a chance to figure out who she was. Her. Jeanie Bueller. Not just Ferris' little sister. There was no Ferris here to compare herself to. For the first time in her life, she had the chance to be the person she wanted to be. She would just need to figure out who that was.

*

 _"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."_

Jeanie hadn't been to her old high school since she had graduated. Why should she? She had moved past that stage of her life. She was finishing up law school now, she had a great internship, and she had found a great group of friends who didn’t know her as Ferris’ sister first. She and Ferris got along much better than they ever had before - she wasn't at all surprised that he'd ended up on Wall Street, and he'd jokingly told her that one day he was counting on her to defend him in court. At least she _thought_ that he was joking. It was hard to tell sometimes.

But Rooney was retiring, and Ferris had taken it upon himself to organize the party. Ferris had always needed to have the last word, and she was more than happy to watch her brother when he was on a mission. If nothing else, the results would be entertaining.

There was something about coming home this time, something that she hadn't felt on her previous visits home. A sense of contentment. She may be back at the place where she was known first and foremost as Ferris Bueller's sister, but she wasn't just his sister. She was Jeanie Bueller, and she was just as much a force to be reckoned with as he was.

She had moved on from the girl she'd been in high school. She had a life she was happy with, a brother she cared about, and a great career waiting for her. This trip home gave her the chance to look back at her life. She'd come pretty far, but she wouldn't change anything about it now.


End file.
